The Forbes List of African Billionaires 2013

Forbes earlier this month was out with its list of 2013 African Billionaires via its contributor Mfonobong Nsehe. Check out the African billionaires that made the cut this year. Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote comes out tops once more.

Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote retains his position as Africa’s richest man for the 3rd year in a row. He is $4.9 billion richer than he was last year on account of the soaring value of his publicly-listed holdings in Nigerian blue chips like Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, National Salt Company of Nigeria and Zenith Bank among others. This year, FORBES also accounted for other assets including his personal portfolio of homes, jets and yacht. Dangote started building his fortune over three decades ago by trading in commodities like cement, flour and sugar but became a billionaire by manufacturing these items. Venerable philanthropist has given away over $100 million to causes in health, education, flood relief and poverty alleviation.

Johann Rupert is now South Africa’s richest man. In the month of March, Rupert is expected to step down as CEO of Swiss-based luxury goods outfit, Compagnie Financiere Richemont, which controls premium brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc and Chloé and which is the source of the bulk of his fortune. Co-CEOs Richard Lepeu (currently deputy CEO) and Bernard Fornas (currently head of Cartier) will replace him. Johann Rupert also owns stakes in investment holding companies Remgro and Reinet.

In November 2011, Oppenheimer sold his family’s 40% stake in De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer to mining behemoth Anglo American for $5.1 billion in an all-cash deal that marked the end of the Oppenheimer family’s age-long control of De Beers, a relationship that began when Nicky’s grandfather, Ernest Oppenheimer, took over the firm in 1927. The Oppenheimer family invests through Tana Africa Capital, a $300 million private equity joint venture with Singapore state investor Temasek.

Nassef Sawiris heads Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Egypt’s most valuable publicly-traded company. In January, he announced that OCI was exchanging all global depositary receipts of the company for newly issued shares of OCI NV on the NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam. Bill Gates was part of a consortium of U.S investors who provided $1 billion to help cover payments to shareholders who prefer to tender their OCI shares for cash.

Reclusive Nigerian billionaire Mike Adenuga owns Globacom, Nigeria’s second largest mobile phone network. It has 24 million customers in Nigeria and operates in the Republic of Benin. It also holds licenses in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Adenuga also owns Conoil Producing, one of Nigeria’s largest independent exploration companies as well as a controlling stake in Conoil PLC, a petroleum marketing company.

Christoffel Wiese is the chairman and the largest individual shareholder of African low-price supermarket chain, Shoprite. He also owns a large stake in discount clothes, shoes and textiles chain Pepkor, where he is executive chairman. His other assets include Lanzerac Manor & Winery, a five-star hotel that produces its own wine, a private game reserve in the Kalahari and a significant shareholding in Brait, a private equity firm.

Born in Swaziland, Nathan Kirsh derives his fortune from Jetro Holdings, which operates Jetro Cash and Carry stores and Restaurant Depots in the New York City area. Jetro enjoys a near monopoly in supplying wholesale goods to small stores and restaurants in the New York City area. Kirsh is keen on philanthropy and focuses his philanthropic endeavors on Swaziland. To date, he has supplied more than 10,000 people with start-up capital for small businesses.

His father was a major shareholder in a small Moroccan insurance company. Benjelloun took over a small Moroccan insurance company his father owned in 1988 and built it into RMA Watanya, one of Morocco’s largest insurance companies. He also owns BMCE Bank, a commercial bank which has operations in more than a dozen countries.

Patrice Motsepe is the Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a publicly-traded mining conglomerate which has interests in platinum, nickel, chrome, iron, manganese, coal, copper and gold. Other assets include a stake in Sanlam, a publicly traded financial services company outside Cape Town and South African football club, Mamelodi Sundowns.

The eldest son of Egyptian billionaire Onsi Sawiris, Naguib has sold off nearly all his shares in Vimpelcom, the Russian telecom giant which had acquired the Sawiris family’s Orascom Telecom in a cash and stock deal in 2011. His Orascom Telecom Media and Technology owns a 75% stake in Koryolink, North Korea’s only cell network.

The second richest man in Morocco sitsatop Ynna Holding Company, which has holdings in hotels, supermarkets and renewable energy. Chaabi has committed to building a university in Casablanca in partnership with Indiana State University.

Onsi Sawiris is the legendary patriarch of Egypt’s most powerful business dynasty. The eponymous Orascom conglomerate, which he helped found, is involved construction, telecoms and hotels. The companies are all run by his three sons- Naguib, Samih and Nassef.

With his two brothers, Mohammed Mansour runs the world’s largest GM dealership. The Mansour Group also owns the largest supermarket chain in Egypt, the country’s second largest real estate developer, Palm Hills, and the Philip Morris franchise in Egypt.

The youngest of Egypt’s three Mansour brothers, Yasseen derives the bulk of his fortune from the family business, the largest seller of GM vehicles in the world. Yasseen is also the chairman of Palm Hills, Egypt’s second largest real estate developer.

Sacco’s father, Guido Sacco, ventured into mining in 1928 when he established Gloucester Manganese Mines. He went on to acquire other mining assets across South Africa which formed the larger Assore Group. The company was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange over 60 years ago. Desmond, a trained geologist, joined the company in 1968 and was appointed to the group’s board in 1974. When Guido retired in 1992, Desmond became chairman and managing director. He is Assore’s single largest shareholder.

Mohammed Al-Fayed previously owned the Harrod’s department store in London, which he sold in 2010 to Qatar Holding for a reported $2.4 billion. He owns the famed Hotel Ritz in Paris which he closed in August 2012 to start construction on what will be the hotel’s biggest redo since it was built in 1898. Al Fayed also owns Fulham Football club and a castle in Scotland.

In 1998, Anas Sefrioui’s real estate development company, Groupe Addoha, was awarded a contract to build 20,000 units of government-subsidized housing under the patronage of Morocco’s late King Hassan II. In 2005, his company won another $1 billion state contract to build more housing units. Groupe Addoha went public in 2006 and Sefrioui owns over 60% of the company’s preferred stock.

Stephen Saad became a millionaire at the age of 29 after he sold his stake in the drug business Covan Zurich for $3 million. He went on to co-found Aspen Pharmacare in 1997 which among other things, manufactures GlaxoSmithKline’s smaller brands. Aspen is now the largest publicly-traded drug manufacturer on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Stephen is the largest individual shareholder in Aspen, while GlaxoSmithKline is the company’s largest institutional shareholder. Aspen’s share price has soared in the past year, transforming Saad into a billionaire.

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